Official "Seattle Freeze" Discussion Thread (quality of life, cost)

[robertpolyglot]

This thread on this topic for this city runs with more FERVOR than similar threads about other cities. It polarizes people. There must be something to it.

First, let's talk about the ethnicity. The long established dominant group generally sets the social tone. In that case, it was the Scandinavians and, to some extent, the Asians. Therefore, they "got there first" and laid down the law.

Now, talk about New York or Philadelphia. What comes to mind? A very Italian or Jewish energy, right? The stuff that sitcoms are made of. America bristles or laughs or imitates the George Costanzos, the Maudes, the Rhodas or the Tony Danzas...yet that frame of reference is NOT FOUND in the PNW. God forbid, they'd chase you out of town. In the Northeast and in Miami, you conform to the Italian/Jewish/Latin frame of reference or you get out of town. You wouldn't be happy.

I haven't kept up with all the articles on the Freeze. There are many. I do remember one, though, when Seattle made the cover of Newsweek in 1995. In it, when a lady from Irvine CA was asked what she thought of her new home, she said it was great but cautioned to "bring your own friends." I didn't understant that at the time, never having had a problem. I moved to SEA in 1997 and moved out about 4 years later. I then knew what the lady meant.

And, rain, you never answered my question. If I ever came up I-5 to the Emerald City, which I do every now and then, would you meet me for coffee? LOL. I want scirocco to come, too. If it's any consolation, I'm collegiately trained as a bean counter ...and at a good school and with good grades...Just messing wicha!

[pwright1]

Go to any city on these boards and you will pull up questions and articles about why a city is standoffish, mean, why I can't make friends, uppity people, snobs, freeze this, can't thaw that and so on. I made lifelong friends in every city I ever lived in. I have not had any problems in Seattle whatsoever. Just like in any city I've lived in, I met and have lifelong friends everywhere including Seattle.

[PencilMeIn]

Originally Posted by wannabeaTexan

The problem with this attitude is that this thread isn't talking bad about the city...it's about the people who are from here. A little harder to just get over it and suck it up. Of course natives are going to want to defend themselves...it's personal.

Yeah, true to a point but those of you who are native to Seattle know who you really are and should just take all the comments with a grain of salt. Don't take it personal.....it isn't an attack, it's just an observation. And we all come from a place where people are stereotyped. I was raised in PGH in the 60'and 70's.....people automatically assume I grew up in a blue collar home and my dad worked in a steel mill (or as we say in PGH "still mill") but he worked white collar and in my neighborhood white collar was the minority.

And for Seattlerain....your comment on "blaming their failures on Seatteites" is really a bunch of bull....no offense. First of all, there has been no failure here.....just a feeling of disconnect. And I don't really care about making friends. So for someone who does, I can understand the frustration.

And for Ira500 (I think) yes, Pittsburghers (now how would you all like to be referred to as that....like I said...suck it up LOL)...we tend to be unpretentious and down to earth kind of people. We have a little bit of the NY, NJ edge in our mannerisms and speech but we are not as aggressive and we are never rude. Blunt sometimes but not rude.

And for Pittgal....yes, "yinz" didn't fly in our house either. But what about "slippy, dahntahn, and jagoffs".....as I've said before you can take the girl out of the Burgh but you can't take the Burgh out of the girl. Great place to grow up. Wish I could have raised my kids there instead of FL...but between their dad and myself, they still have it in their blood....and they are all Steeler fans. No Dolphin or Seahawkes fans in our house.

[jwb123]

Go to any city on these boards and you will pull up questions and articles about why a city is standoffish, mean, why I can't make friends, uppity people, snobs, freeze this, can't thaw that and so on.

No, that's not true. I can think of at least one other one where you never see anything about freeze and unfriendliness.

[seattlerain]

Originally Posted by samsmom

And for Seattlerain....your comment on "blaming their failures on Seatteites" is really a bunch of bull....no offense. First of all, there has been no failure here.....just a feeling of disconnect. And I don't really care about making friends. So for someone who does, I can understand the frustration.

Ok, I've taken a lot of flak for that comment but IT WAS NOT DIRECTED AT YOU OR ANYBODY ON HERE. It was an idea that I threw out.

I'm done with this place

[seattlerain]

Originally Posted by samsmom

And for Seattlerain....your comment on "blaming their failures on Seatteites" is really a bunch of bull....no offense. First of all, there has been no failure here.....just a feeling of disconnect. And I don't really care about making friends. So for someone who does, I can understand the frustration.

It was an idea that I threw out and IT WAS NOT DIRECTED AT YOU OR ANYBODY ON HERE.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it certainly seems to me that it's fine for people that aren't native to the area to express an opinion without being attacked, but let somebody like me express an opinion or try and discuss something and we get a lot of flak.

I'm done with this tread.

[moneyoverall]

I've had this thread bookmarked and i read it everyday from work. It's quite enjoyable really! I was not going to respond but I figure what the heck. I am a native and I completely agree with the statement below. I am in my mid-twenties and have lived in the PCN my entire life. 19 years in Seattle, 5 years in Portland, OR. This probably isn't relevent but oh well. I'm going to reference HS. Obviously all places have their little clicks as you grow up (High School i.e.) But the thing with Seattle is that everyone is set in their ways. Even though I played basketball in HS, I drifted between clicks and tried to be nice to everyone. However, It has now been 6 years since I graduated and everyone who lives in the area still hangs out STRICTLY with their friends from HS. This is what happens in every city (in my opinion). Verdict=similar to most cities.

I have also found that people from Seattle defend this area like no other. I don't like mentioning my personal opinions on the city and people because I'm trying to save up money and head out. I have had countless discussions on the weather and whenever an implant asks someone from here about the rain, they take it personally. Although it is true, whenever someone asks about how much it rains, one of the most common responses is "well yea, but boston and the east coast gets more rain than us." and it's usually in a slightly increased voice tone.

Since I graduated (college in oregon), I have lived in Seattle (Queen Anne) for the last 1 and 1/2 years. I have worked in a bank and made a lot of great friends who were around my age. I'm not a loser, I don't sit at home and play counter strike all day, and I don't lock myself away from others. I'm actually quite entertaining. (this is for my next point...) SO...I worked at the bank and became friends with MANY. I got phone numbers and people always talked about hanging out after work. The thing is...it wasn't me who always brought up hanging out. It was them. They encouraged it and I asked about the time, day, etc. When the time finally came, almost everyone cancelled. I have since transferred to a better location/job in Seattle and I only stay in contact with one. And at the time, there were about 8 people who talked about hanging out. As a Native, in MY PERSONAL OPINION, it isn't a myth.

Originally Posted by wannabeaTexan

Yeah, what I'm hearing is...Seattle is awesome, just beautiful, great place to raise kids, tons of stuff to do, not too hot, not too cold. Now if we could just get the pesky people who were born here to leave...they're bringing us down, man!

Who cares what the natives think, huh? I like reading your opinions/posts, HistoryAff, but that's a little harsh.

I agree this thread is going nowhere, which is why I've tried to stay off of it (reading, but not posting), much like the Presidential Election board. But sometimes I get sucked back in to both!

[HistoryAficionado]

Originally Posted by pwright1

Go to any city on these boards and you will pull up questions and articles about why a city is standoffish, mean, why I can't make friends, uppity people, snobs, freeze this, can't thaw that and so on.

Can you provide some examples of other city threads where this particular topic comes up? Seattlerain had made a similar statement and provided a few links he'd found and we agreed (I think) that the threads he linked weren't on this topic or as relevant. People gripe a lot in other citiy forums (and volumes ago, I posted some examples) about other things.

Generally, people miss the point that those complaining about this aspect of Seattle are thinking of it almost as a "product' -- just like if someone bought a new car and didn't like certain things about it.

The natives seem to go straight to taking it personally. That's why their posts tend to personally attack the other poster sometimes, while the negative people are talking more abstractly.

I've tried to temper some of my statements by not calling it good or bad, just "different" and bringing up the positives about Seattle. One of the things that's sort of annoying, though, is the stereotype that "everyone in Seattle is a transplant!" I'd posted a thread about this and, really, in King County, the transplants outnumber the natives 1.7 to 1 and Snohomish county is a 1:1 ratio. That hardly constitutes "everyone" in the area as a transplant and that it's the transplants having difficulty getting along with each other whil the natives are above reproach -- meanwhile, what are we supposed to think: that the enclave of 10 natives who're left sit in silence emanating friendly vibes and good wiil, lamenting their city's fall to the Californian hordes? Hardly.

[PencilMeIn]

Seattlerain..Sorry...didn't mean to offend you (I did say no offense)..just didn't agree with your idea. And I didn't think it was directed at me personally...just thought it was a blanket statement that would probably not hold true for most on this forum. And I sure hope those that are failing here are not using their time by writing on this forum but rather working to improve their circumstances not blaming someone else for their own mistakes or bad choices. Geesh....you don't have to yell.

[robertpolyglot]

Originally Posted by samsmom

Seattlerain..Sorry...didn't mean to offend you (I did say no offense)..just didn't agree with your idea.

Chill, let that rain soak in, seattlerain, come back! This is a hotly debated topic, as you can see. It is completely divided up the middle: yes it is/no it isn't, or, glass is half-full/glass is half-empty.

We need a "The View" on this: samsmom, history, me, seattlerain and scirocco. Wouldn't that be a riot?

The natives is part of the issue. But, you're right, most of us don't care what the natives think. However, transplants who move up and act Californian, Texan, Floridian, or East Coast have their personality squelched right out of them, and then they are acting like the natives, to socially assimilate. The problem is when the transplants you relied upon for some semblance of sanity became sterile flatliners. At that point, they have been poisoned.